Floods and Health in Gambella region, Ethiopia: An ... - lumes

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2. MATERIALS AND METHODS 2.1 Study Area Gambella region is one of the regional states in Ethiopia. It is found in the western part of the country bordering on south with Sudan and Oromiya and Southern Nations Nationalities Regional States of Ethiopia (figure 3). It has an area of 25,800 km 2 with estimated a total population of 247 000 (Kassahun et al, 2008). The region is divided into three administration zones. Again the zones are divided in to eleven woredas (districts) and woredas divided into 220 kebeles; the smallest administrative units. Gambella is characterized by a variety of elevation. The eastern part has an elevation of 2000- 1000 meter above sea level. The middle part has an elevation of 900-500 meter above sea level and the western part has an elevation of 500- 300 meters above sea level (Woube, 1999). This trend shows a progressive decline from east to west. In general the land in the region is characterized as flat plain. Figure 2: Map showing Gambella Region and Rivers in the region (source: Woube, 1999) 14
Animal husbandry is the main economic activity of the region. Also subsistence farming, traditional fishing, hunting, gathering of wild animals and plants are used as source of living in the rural parts of the region (GRDPPA, 2006). The annual rain fall in the Gambella region ranges between 800-1200mm and it is considered as all year rain fall regime, but about 85% of the rain is between May-October with less rain registered between February- April (Woube, 1999). The average annual temperature of the region is 27.5 0 C (Kassahun et al, 2008). Land use change is main contributing factor for increased frequency and magnitude of floods in Gambella region. Unplanned settlement and population increases are major cause for the land use change. Before 1984, Gambella region was occupied by a few indigenous people in sparsely populated settlements (Woube, 1999). However between 1983 and 1996, a total of 733,600 people settled in the region (Woube, 1999). The impact of relocation was that more than 140,000 ha natural forest was cleared and large scale farming also increased in the region in order to meet the needs of the population. This lead to run off and high sediment yield which reduced the water holding capacity of rivers (Old et al, 2006). According to Greenough et al (2001) generally deforestation increases the occurrence of a higher volume run off which can result in flooding in low plain areas. There are many rivers in the region but the big rivers are Baro, Akobo, Gilo and Alwero that flows through out the year (Woube, 1999). The rivers in the region originate from the high land parts of the country. Most of the people in Gambella live along the river bank which makes them susceptible to yearly flooding. Excessive rains from Gambella and surrounding regions cause rivers to overflow. As a result flooding is most common natural disaster in the region. For example if we examine the last seven years there was over flow of big rivers such as Baro, Akobo, Gilo, Alwero, Jikow, Gnandera and Koikoye in all years except in 2002 (FDPPA, 2007). As a result thousands of people were displaced, crops were damaged and property destroyed (FDPPA, 2007). Figure 3 shows some of the destruction caused by flood in Gambella region. 15
Page 1 and 2: Floods and Health in Gambella regio
Page 3 and 4: ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I am most grateful
Page 5 and 6: List of Figures Figure 1: Flood Pro
Page 7 and 8: 1. INTRODUCTION Floods are known as
Page 9 and 10: 1.3. BACK GROUND 1.3.1 Types and ca
Page 11 and 12: 1.3.2 Health Impact of Flooding The
Page 13: In addition, severe damage to hospi
Page 17 and 18: 2.2 Data collection and Data Analys
Page 19 and 20: The flood disaster management seque
Page 21 and 22: 3.3.1 Structural measures From dire
Page 23 and 24: problem in collecting the data from
Page 25 and 26: 4. Discussion Lack of flood-specifi
Page 27 and 28: Regional government of Gambella has
Page 29 and 30: 5. Recommendations and Conclusion 5
Page 31 and 32: 6. REFERENCE Ahern, M., Kovats, R.,
Page 33 and 34: Gambella Region Disaster Prevention
Page 35 and 36: Pan America Health Organization, (2
Page 37 and 38: 7. APPENDIX Appendix 1 Table 2: sho
Page 39 and 40: 21. If no what do you use?.........
Page 41 and 42: 1. Is there specific policies relat

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